Final assembly of a large-scale structure, such as a vehicle like aircraft or the like, typically is performed in an assembly area of a fabrication facility such as a factory. During final assembly of a large-scale structure, components (which may be large-scale components such as fuselage sections, wings, or the like) are placed on assembly jacks, located and aligned, and moved on the assembly jacks to be joined to each other.
However, prediction of assembly jack motions typically is done on an ad-hoc basis. This is because assembly jack motion prediction software has not been developed together with the corresponding assembly simulation software used to design the structure and its components. As a result, the structure as-built in the factory may or may not agree with assembly simulations on which the manufacturing plan is based. Furthermore, the exact final locations of components in the as-built structure are typically found by a separate measurement survey of the structure after assembly.
The foregoing examples of related art and limitations associated therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.